Left-Right Surgery Snafus Draw Suits

6/9/2005 - Chicago Sun-Times, Metro Section
By Jim Ritter, Health Reporter

Brain surgeons got wrong side, two say, blast malpractice caps

When Eli Ghawi woke up from brain surgery at Loyola University medical Center, he discovered his surgeon had operated on the wrong side of his head, a lawsuit claims.

The next year, the same thing happened to Rashida Aziz, a patient at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, a second lawsuit alleges.

Such wrong-site surgeries happen with surprising frequency, despite efforts in recent years by medical groups to prevent them.

For example, surgeons have removed am ole from the wrong hand, operated on the wrong knee, performed a mastectomy on the wrong breast and amputated the wrong leg, said Dr. Peter Angood of the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety.

Last year, U.S. hospitals reported 71 wrong-site surgeries, compared with 70 in 2003, 64 in 2002 and 58 in 2001. But these numbers probably are "only the tip of the iceberg," Angood said. The problem "is more common across the country than people think."

Ghawi and Aziz both underwent surgery for a condition called trigeminal neuralgia, which causes excruciating shooting pains in the face. It has been called one of the most painful conditions known to man. Ghawi compared it to being constantly jolted with electric shocks. The surgery is intended to, in effect, block the nerve that’s triggering the pain.

‘Beyond upsetting’

Ghawi underwent surgery in 2003 and Aziz in 2004. In both cases, surgeons made incisions and began drilling into the skull before realizing their mistakes, the lawsuits allege.

Neither patient suffered permanent damage. Nevertheless, the mistake "was beyond upsetting," Aziz said. "It was painful. It was scary, and it was wrong."

The same surgeons who made the mistakes later operated on the correct side, and these surgeries succeeded in relieving their facial pain, Ghawi and Aziz said.

Spokesmen for both hospitals declined to comment because the cases are in litigation.

Ghawi and Aziz spoke at a news conference Wednesday at the office of their attorney, Keith Hebeisen of Clifford Law Offices, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

The patients expressed support for trial attorneys’ last-ditch efforts to head off medical malpractice legislation that limits to $500,000 the amount doctors must pay for pain and suffering. Aziz called such caps, "insulting."

Gov. Blagojevich said that while he opposes caps, he intends to sign the bill because it would lower doctors’ insurance premiums and encourage them to stay in Illinois.